Wednesday, December 29, 2010

It always astounds me what Microsoft are willing to bundle with their software, Analysis Services or SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services) with SQL Server for example! They haven't stopped, they bundle Windows Sharepoint Services with Windows Server 2003, with is basically a fully functional SharePoint Server, however they still have SharePoint Server 2007 as a product. So what are the differences? At first glance it doesn't appear to be much, however for tight integration into the enterprise, it seems that MOSS 2007 (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server) is a must! I will highlight the most interesting bits that MOSS 2007 has over and above WSS 3.0 (Windows Sharepoint Services) :User Profiles support - Allows each user to store profile informationSite Manager - Manage Navigation, Security and look and feel with drag an drop functionalityEnterprise Search Tools - numerous tools to search Sharepoint Sites and Portals across entire enterprisesBusiness Data Catalog - The Business Data Catalog (BDC) tightly integrates external data, providing access to external data residing within other business applications, and enabling the display of, and interaction with external dataBusiness data search - Search data residing in your business applications using the BDC (See Above)Business Data Web Parts - Used for viewing lists, entities, and related information retrieved through the Business Data CatalogBusiness document workflow support - Automate document review, approval, signature collection, and issue tracking using workflow applicationsRetention and auditing policies - Allows customized information management policies to control retention period, expiration, and auditingBrowser-based forms - Integration with InfoPath, allows integration on to SharePoint of created forms and surveys.Integrated, flexible spreadsheet publishing - Allows information workers to easily choose what they want to share with others and determine how others can interact with published spreadsheets.Share, manage, and control spreadsheets - Provides access to spreadsheet data and analysis through server-calculated, interactive spreadsheets from a Web browser. Can help to protect any sensitive or proprietary information embedded in documents, such as financial models, and audits their usage.Web-based business intelligence using Excel Services - Allows spreadsheets to be broadly and easily shared. Fully interactive, data-bound spreadsheets including charts, tables, and PivotTable views can be created as part of a portal, dashboard, or business scorecard.Data Connection Libraries - Document Libraries storing ODCs (Office Data Connections), Making one single location for all data connections.Business Data actions - Easily create actions that open Web pages, display the user interfaces of other business applications, launch InfoPath forms, and perform other common tasks.Integrated business intelligence dashboards - Rich, interactive BI dashboards that assemble and display business information from disparate sources by using built-in Web parts, Excel spreadsheets, Reporting Services, or a collection of business data connectivity Web Parts.Report Center - Provides consistent management of reports, spreadsheets, and data connections.Key performance indicators - A KPI web Part can connect to Analysis Services, Excel Spreadsheets, SharePoint Lists, or manual entered data.Notification service - Improved allowing workflow users to receive emails by default, and improved triggering and filteringSingle Sign-On (SSO) - Allows the User to log onto a variety of applications with a single user name and password, therefore integrating back office applications, and helps pre-population with integration to the Profile part of MOSS 2007.Social Networking Part - Connect to Public My Site pages to help establish connections between colleagues with common interestsPersonal Site Support - Allows Users to create Personal Web Sites Content syndication - Use RSS feeds to syndicate content managed in a portal site.